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EP. REVIEW: A Place Further Than the Universe


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Merxamers



Joined: 09 Dec 2013
Posts: 720
PostPosted: Wed Jan 17, 2018 10:50 am Reply with quote
I've adored this show so far. Like the reviewer mentioned, the subtle little humor (like the ethics textbook) is great, and i love the dynamic between the characters. The animation has been really solid too; that bit in episode 2 when Hinata is SPRINTING away from those other women really stuck out to me. Most animated running has a weird "stick their elbows out 90 deg and swing their arms" loop, but Hinata is drawn like a track athlete who is also fleeing for her life. Not all that important, just something that caught my attention.
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Punch Drunk Marc



Joined: 04 Oct 2013
Posts: 1750
PostPosted: Wed Jan 17, 2018 10:56 am Reply with quote
Merxamers wrote:
that bit in episode 2 when Hinata is SPRINTING away from those other women really stuck out to me. Most animated running has a weird "stick their elbows out 90 deg and swing their arms" loop, but Hinata is drawn like a track athlete who is also fleeing for her life. Not all that important, just something that caught my attention.


Same. That running sequence with her was great. I've also really been enjoying the show so far. Here's hoping someone picks it up after this season and releases it.
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Dian Z





PostPosted: Wed Jan 17, 2018 11:52 am Reply with quote
I've enjoyed the first 2 eps thoroughly. But a bit disappointed by how the story turned out in episode 3. That celebrity Shiraishi thing has made it a bit further from the rather grounded potential storyline I had expected.

One of the things that drew my immediate interest is the premise of how ordinary high school girls could get to Antarctica. And I've been impressed by the realistic-ish depiction of Shirase's long plan and preparation gaining money and information to a point where she sounded reasonable enough with her mission. But then they met a celebrity, presumably funded, that they more or less change the challenge from how to board Shirase, to how to make friend with the perks of boarding Shirase. The fact that it's been the other way around is what actually makes it interesting to me, with more focus on tackling people's doubts on going to Antarctica, while friendships will bloom itself along the way. Is how I see it.

Either way, I hope by being aided by Shiraishi's sponsor or somehing of the sort, it won't make the journey less challenging as if all the obstacles have been solved by it. On the other hand, this might otherwise be the more realistic way of going to Antarctica for an ordinary high school girls, although it'll be a bit discouraging those who might be inspired to do so from the earlier episodes, which idk probably is the intended message. Still looking forward to it and enjoyed everything else.
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Blood-
Bargain Hunter



Joined: 07 Mar 2009
Posts: 24167
PostPosted: Wed Jan 17, 2018 11:57 am Reply with quote
I adore this show. I like the characters, the comedy and the way certain things (like the inside of an old snowcat shown in episode 3) are very realistically depicted. Definitely a season highlight for me even though we are only three weeks in.
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meiam



Joined: 23 Jun 2013
Posts: 3450
PostPosted: Wed Jan 17, 2018 12:06 pm Reply with quote
Probably my favorite show of the new season, and one of the few CGDCT that approach K-ON in both cast likability and overall quality.

But I'm also not crazy about the way the plot moved in episode 3, it's not a deal breaker but I would have rather they'd found some other way to get to antartica than this. The way they made friend with her was also too neat and easy.

As far as animation, gotta love that wink in the OP. Wink
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DeTroyes



Joined: 30 May 2016
Posts: 521
PostPosted: Wed Jan 17, 2018 12:55 pm Reply with quote
This series for me has been the only true standout of an otherwise lackluster season. I love the characters, the writing, the art, and especially the (generally) realistic approach to the entire series. Best of all its an original story, which means I don't have to constantly dodge spoilers like I have had to for some other recent shows (*cough*cough*MadeInAbyss*cough*cough*).

Now that spoiler[the way is more or less clear for the girls to get to Antarctica, I'm hoping next episode will have Shirase rubbing it in to her detractors at school that not only has she succeeded where they all said she'd fail, she's going in the company of a famous idol, whom she's made friends with. I'll be very disappointed especially if they don't give Shirase her schadenfreude moment over those two bullies.]

As for what happens when they get there... I'm guessing things aren't going to be as care-free as everyone thinks. I can't shake the feeling that there are dark moments ahead for these girls. Antarctica is renowned for being a fairly unforgiving place, and plenty of people have died there underestimating its challenges. I don't expect any of them to die, but... it wouldn't surprise me if before their adventure is finished, they are pitched into a dire survival situation. Especially Shirase; I have a suspicion uncovering her mother's fate is not going to be as easy or without consequences as she thinks.

Looking forward to where this is going. Best show of the season so far.
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phia_one



Joined: 15 Jan 2012
Posts: 1661
Location: Pennsylvania
PostPosted: Wed Jan 17, 2018 8:00 pm Reply with quote
I'm loving this show so far. The banter between the leads is great and they don't feel like tropes walking across the screen.
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Emdykay



Joined: 14 Nov 2017
Posts: 85
PostPosted: Wed Jan 17, 2018 10:10 pm Reply with quote
I really am not a big fan of Slice of Life nor CGDCT and I usually only pick such shows up if they get very positive feedback, like this one got one the previews, and I have to say: those were the most entertaining first three episodes of a Slice of Life show I have seen. I love this show already.
It does good enough visually to be considered above average. The cast is extremly likable and fun to watch, not feeling like the myriad of entirely cookie-cutter characters common to these kind of shows, bringing enough character depth to balance out the humorous parts of their personality. Meanwhile this show has it´s feet firmly planted on the thematic ground it intends to cover, now put on top well done execution overall, be it direction or pacing, and a love for details and little things and there you go: if this goes on like that it might turn out to be my favorite Slice of Life show out there.

I might be wary wether the show is making it´s own life a little too easy, the "resolution" to our fourth characters introduction felt a little like that, but there is a line you have to walk in a show like this between character drama and being upbeat and easygoing and if it only works out like this occasionally I´m fine with it.
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Zeino



Joined: 19 May 2017
Posts: 1098
PostPosted: Thu Jan 18, 2018 12:08 am Reply with quote
I just hope they get to the Antarctica by the halfway point at the latest.
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MJKS



Joined: 28 Jul 2017
Posts: 102
PostPosted: Thu Jan 18, 2018 12:11 am Reply with quote
Paul wrote:
modest narrative ambitions


Are they modest, though? Yes, in the grand scheme of anime, sure. But part of the reason I'm taken with the series is that these four teenage girls are trying to get themselves to Antarctica, which seems like a lifetime-defining adventure, to me. Based on that premise, and the many delightful emotional moments the show has delivered so far, Madhouse has me expecting great things.

Also, although I understand the critique of the plot direction that was taken in episode 3, I think it misses the forest for the trees. Obviously a lot of viewers (myself included) were initially awed by the sheer chutzpah of some high school misfits deciding they were going to voyage to the farthest reaches of the Earth, and proceeded to imagine the incredible struggle it would take to actually realize that dream. But all of that journey would still only exist to get them to the real journey of Antarctica itself--which I think offers greatest potential for drama and character growth, easily.

On the other hand, fighting hard to attain who-knows-what other crazy conclusion where they won their right to board Shirase certainly would have had its own charm. And I'm not actually convinced that that part of the drama is entirely over.


Last edited by MJKS on Thu Jan 18, 2018 12:38 am; edited 1 time in total
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DuskyPredator



Joined: 10 Mar 2009
Posts: 15576
Location: Brisbane, Australia
PostPosted: Thu Jan 18, 2018 12:38 am Reply with quote
On people claiming that it is losing its down to earth nature with the introduction of the child actress character, I don't think so. I was already theorizing after the second episode that the most likely way a group of high school girls could get on the trip would be if they were part of a project that could fund the trip for everyone, by having the novelty of high school girls reporting on the trip. If you go by that thought you would have to think what the type of high school girl that would most likely be given such a chance that the more common group could jump on, and a child actress actually seems like a good fit for being likely.

Sure the fourth member of the group is extraordinary for being a celebrity, her not being quick to jump on the chance really is not that odd. The other three are kind of also pretty extraordinary from putting in so much effort despite clearly being awkward, being pretty much super ordinary but deciding to do this, and what seems like a number of things with Hinata, like choosing not to do the high school thing, but still got the qualifications.
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yuna49



Joined: 27 Aug 2008
Posts: 3804
PostPosted: Thu Jan 18, 2018 10:31 am Reply with quote
Merxamers wrote:
that bit in episode 2 when Hinata is SPRINTING away from those other women really stuck out to me. Most animated running has a weird "stick their elbows out 90 deg and swing their arms" loop

Mostly the arm-swinging scenes are limited to girls, and, as someone who spent quite a bit of time around young girls while raising my daughter, that is an accurate portrayal of the way many girls run. Hinata has clearly trained as a sprinter and uses that style.

OT:
spoiler[One other scene that has stuck with me in terms of accurately depicting young girls appears in the first episode of AKB0048. Nagisa, who is about eleven in that scene, is wearing a clingy knit dress that shows her butt being oversized compared to the rest of her slim body. That's also pretty characteristic of pre-pubescent girls, though I'm sure there was a bit of fanservice involved as well. I thought it showed that Kawamori had a good eye for realistic depiction.]

I think my first experience with the arm-swinging depiction of girls' running came while playing Final Fantasy X. Yuna runs with that style, and I remember thinking it was realistic if a bit moe.
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neozxtc



Joined: 25 Jun 2015
Posts: 24
PostPosted: Thu Jan 18, 2018 12:16 pm Reply with quote
Punch Drunk Marc wrote:
Same. That running sequence with her was great. I've also really been enjoying the show so far. Here's hoping someone picks it up after this season and releases it.


A friend told me that is a CR produced series and Funi should be doing a dub for it. Regardless of who releases it I will buy it. I doubt it would get an LE but I'm still buying it.
I really love it so far as I'm a sucker for sweet slice of life anime's lol.
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BodaciousSpacePirate
Subscriber



Joined: 17 Apr 2015
Posts: 3019
PostPosted: Sun Jan 21, 2018 5:13 pm Reply with quote
My first thought after Episode 3 was, "considering all these 'lonely teen idol' girls in anime and manga, why doesn't someone just open up a high school in Tokyo where all the idols can go and make friends with people who understand how hard it is to be an idol?", but then I realized that that was alarmingly close to the school from Chance Pop Sessions, and anyone who's seen that anime knows that no one was "there to make friends".
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RyuuGP



Joined: 11 Feb 2017
Posts: 26
PostPosted: Mon Jan 22, 2018 10:48 pm Reply with quote
Many people doesn't like the fact that the girls made friend with an artist to board the ship, because it's not down to earth. But in real world connection with someone with power is maybe your best chance or maybe your only chance for something as impossible as highschool girls to go to antarctica. Or maybe people doesn't like that way because it seems so easy? Then can you think of a better way but still believable?
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